Strategies: Guiding Children to Self- and Co-Regulate
Look for opportunitiesto extend children's understanding of empathy. For example, if someone makes a sarcastic comment in class, discuss the effects of sarcasm experienced by the person who is the target of the comment and others who hear the comment. Typically, the effects of such behaviour affect the larger group in a negative way. Explore the motivations for the behaviour and discuss alternatives.
Literature provides a way to introduce children to the concept of empathy at the primary grades and to extend students' understanding of the concept at the junior and intermediate grades and beyond. For example, providing primary students with the opportunity to read about children in other countries helps them to make the first important realization that children in other countries, although they may eat different foods, dress differently, and follow different customs, are like them and that the similarities they share outweigh the differences. For older students, literature offers the chance to experience empathy through characters and stories. At any grade, discussions of literature are key to increasing student understanding of empathy.
Help children to explore the motivations and effects of bullying behaviour, so that the exploration extends beyond the typical examination of the effects of bullying on the victim to the reasons why people bully. This provides students with the opportunity to see that the roots of bullying are not in the bully's strengths but in his or her need to increase feelings of self-esteem, power, and so on.
Increase awareness of bullying --- and your "no tolerance" policy --- with parents and others in the community. Hold meetings on the topic, as needed.
Have the class work together on an anti-bullying "contract", which all students then sign to indicate their commitment to it.
There are a number of student groups that have made remarkable contributions through activism. Students can be encouraged to research initiatives.
Support of initiatives needs to be adopted by school staff and have district support. Help your students define an initiative that is age- and resource- appropriate for them. Provide the support they will need to get official approval from your school and district administration so that they can follow through on their activism.
At the junior and intermediate grades, promote student awareness of community initiatives that rely on volunteers, such as local food banks and animal shelters. While some students will be too young or not in a position to volunteer, exposure to the number of organizations and their reliance on volunteers promotes an understanding that the health of a society relies on the contribution its members make to help those less advantaged (Shanker, 2013, pp. 118-119).
Neurological Research
Boyce, W. T., Obradovic, J., Bush, N. R., Stamperdal, J., Kim, Y. S., & Adler, N. (2012). Social stratification, classroom climate, and the behavioral adaptation of kindergarten children. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1201730109
Hymel, S., Rocke, S., Henderson, N., & Bonanno, R. A. (2005). Moral disengagement: A framework for understanding bullying among adolescents. Journal of Social Sciences. Special Issue: Peer Victimization in Schools: An International Perspective, 8 (1), 11- 21.
Power, C., Thomas, C., Li, L., & Hertzman, C. (2012). Childhood psychosocial adversity and adult cortisol patterns. Proceeeding of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.111.096032
Twenge, J. M. (2007). Generation me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled--and more miserable than ever before. New York. Free Press.
Twenge, J. M., Baumeister, R. F., DeWall, C. N., Ciarocco, N. J., & Bartels, J. M. (2007). Social exclusion decreases prosocial behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(1), 56.
Key Attributes of the Pro-social Domain
Children who are optimally regulated in the pro-social domain will demonstrate the following key attributes:
Interventions, Strategies and Supports
Interventions:Strategies:
Guiding Children to Self- and Co-Regulate
Boyce, W. T., Obradovic, J., Bush, N. R., Stamperdal, J., Kim, Y. S., & Adler, N. (2012). Social stratification, classroom climate, and the behavioral adaptation of kindergarten children. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1201730109
Hymel, S., Rocke, S., Henderson, N., & Bonanno, R. A. (2005). Moral disengagement: A framework for understanding bullying among adolescents. Journal of Social Sciences. Special Issue: Peer Victimization in Schools: An International Perspective, 8 (1), 11- 21.
Power, C., Thomas, C., Li, L., & Hertzman, C. (2012). Childhood psychosocial adversity and adult cortisol patterns. Proceeeding of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.111.096032
Twenge, J. M. (2007). Generation me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled--and more miserable than ever before. New York. Free Press.
Twenge, J. M., Baumeister, R. F., DeWall, C. N., Ciarocco, N. J., & Bartels, J. M. (2007). Social exclusion decreases prosocial behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(1), 56.